How entering Kylearan Tower?

[DeCasale]

Hi Folks! I defeated Tarjan at Harkyn´s Castle, then was teleported to Kylearan - and went back to adventures guild to get some sleep in real life. Later I realized that this was probably a big fault. The teleporter doesnt work anymore as long as I can´t fight Tarjan. So: How can I enter again?

[DeCasale]

... maybe I have to get the Eye again from the Catacombs? And do so every time I leave Kylearan?

[caars]

... maybe I have to get the Eye again from the Catacombs? And do so every time I leave Kylearan?

Yes. You've got to get the Eye again to "activate" Tarjan and get yourself teleported to Kylerean's Tower.

Here's a trick - and fair warning that it IS a cheat (really an exploit of the way the game "saves" characters).

Pool all of your gold onto a character in your party that will NOT carry the Eye (and is not the dummy character I mention below). Save that character (i.e. remove him from the party).

Create a dummy character. Add him to the party. Give him the Eye. Remove him from the party (save him off).

Now load him back in. Have him give the Eye to the character you *actually* want to have it (i.e. in the Castle to trigger the fight with Tarjan). Save THAT character off (remove him from the party), but do NOT save the dummy character that had the eye.

Exit the entire game completely. Do not exit gracefully. Just kill the game (like would happen if you just shut the computer off or the game crashed).

When you start up the game again and load in your party at the Guild, both your "real" character who you gave the Eye to AND the "dummy" character should have copies of the Eye (and that third character will have all of the party's gold safely stowed away). DO NOT EVER load the "dummy," transfer the Eye, and then save the "dummy" back to the disk - that'll remove the copy of the Eye! BUT every time you want to make a new trip into the Tower, all you have to do is load the "dummy" transfer the eye to a "real" party member, save the "real" party member, and then kill and re-load the game.

The whole exploit works because of the way the game "saves" characters - at least on the Apple II version (which is the one I played way back when I was young). If you're playing an imported DOS or Apple IIGS version (from like the bundle on Steam) then I have no idea if that trick will work. And, obviously, only do it if you don't mind using exploits to skip past things you've already done once and don't enjoy repeating over and over again (hey, if you like heading down to level 3 of the catacombs and facing that spectre every time you want to get yourself tp'ed to the Tower, more power to you!).

Obviously, all of this also means that you pretty much have to do the Tower all in one outing (the same one you killed Tarjan). I usually just (by default) run from ALL encounters in the Tower - only fighting when it won't let me run or when I *have* to fight (there's one combat you cannot avoid if you want to progress). But, as usual, that's just my preferred way (I get back to "grinding my characters up" once I start Mangar's Tower). You can do it however you want (multiple trips to map more and more of the tower with a return to the catacombs and castle every time you want to enter anew).

Of course, once you have the master key, you can enter the Tower whenever you want... although by the time you have the master key, you don't actually need to enter the Tower any more (since you'll have already completed it)...

[DeCasale]

Thanks, my friend. I´m now at Mangars Tower, Level 2. The first time (except the first hours maybe) I feel a bit overwhelmed, and unfortunately the first time running away from the fights doesn´t work properly. Despite dexterity is at 18 for each character, the monsters are quicker and often kill my gang before the third turn starts. Level 18, maybe to weak for mangar ...?

[Maven]

Yeah, Dexterity isn't what helps you run from encounters -- it's luck and experience level. Even with 18 luck you're going to have a hard time running from encounters in Mangar's tower at level 18. Get a Luckshield for your lead character and that will help, but you still won't be reliably running from random encounters until the upper 20's. With a Paladin in the lead spot, and a Luckshield, maybe a little bit earlier. But even then you can't run from Storm Giants or Red Dragons. Or Spectres or Vampire Lords. Which you are very likely to encounter.

You could grind up several levels. There are some places in the first couple of levels of Mangar's Tower that are fixed encounters that you surely can win. Ninety some-odd Samurai, for example. Decent experience for a couple of area effect spells. Sometimes they drop pretty good stuff, as well. When you start finding Onyx Keys and Troll Staves, or even just Frost Horns and Dragonshields, your gold problems are much less.

Or you could just plow on through. Yeah, you'll probably experience a total party wipeout a time or two, but you'll also be getting more experience and treasure for the times when you do end up on top. Also, you'll learn some advanced battle techniques -- by necessity. Your Wizards should be able to cast Animate Dead and Dispossess at this point, so it's less expensive when you die.

It is possible to win at level 18, but it isn't easy and it takes some luck. Assault the tower enough times and eventually you'll either get lucky and win, or you'll level up and it'll be easier.

[DeCasale]

Get a Luckshield for your lead character and that will help, but you still won't be reliably running from random encounters until the upper 20's.

Oh boy, I think I have to cancel some summer activities

Thank you for the help, I will try the level-up-strategy.